Vegeta

Majin Vegeta Vegita
|}Vegeta is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball franchise created by Akira Toriyama. Vegeta first appeared in the manga chapter #204 Sayōnara Son Gokū first published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on December 19, 1988, and in episode 6 of its anime adaptation Dragon Ball Z (though he can be spotted briefly in a still scene in an earlier episode), as the prince of the nearly extinct race of alien warriors called the Saiyans. Vegeta was the original enemy of the series, hoping to use the seven Dragon Balls to gain immortality and galactic rule. As common enemies appear, Vegeta is forced into an often unstable alliance with the protagonists of the series. By the end of the manga, Vegeta develops into a trustworthy ally of the series' main character, Son Goku. Vegeta's character is known for his bitter rivalry with Goku, because in spite of his vigorous training and royal heritage, he often believed his strength and skill to be inferior to that of Goku.

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Following a common name trend that Toriyama developed in Dragon Ball, Vegeta's name is derived from the word for vegetable, being that he is the prince of the Saiyans.

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Vegeta's initial appearance in the manga is as a short and slightly stocky character, with upright standing hair and a defined widow's peak

. Toriyama changed his appearance, gradually making himleaner, more masculine, and more mature-looking. Vegeta's appearance is again modified in Dragon Ball GT, in which he appears with a shorter hairstyle and wearing Western-style casual clothes. As a Saiyan, Vegeta also has a tail, which he loses in his initial battle on Earth with Goku and his allies. Over the course of the series, he has worn several variations of the Saiyan suit, though later on in the series (and subsequently the Dragon Ball GT series), he abandons the Saiyan armour completely for civilian clothing.

When he first appears in the series, Vegeta is arrogant and sadistic, having a fierce desire for immortality and galactic rule. He is also vicious and cares for nobody but himself, which is shown when he dispatched his comrade Nappa for failing to defeat Goku. Vegeta's plans are thwarted by Goku and Gohan. Because of Vegeta's overwhelming pride and ego, being defeated by someone who he considered inferior transforms his character into a jealous and vengeful anti-hero. By the end of the series, Vegeta's bitter rivalry with Goku softens when he comes to respect Goku as an ally and even a friend.

Vegeta's priorities can be seen to gradually change as the series progresses, though one facet remains constant: his rivalry with Goku is fueled by Goku's ability to stay ahead of him in power. Because of this, Vegeta is seen to pursue an insane desire to surpass Goku in strength, but whenever he seems to train and continually push himself harder than Goku does, he can never permanently close the gap between he and Goku until GT when they each hit SS4.

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Vegeta has the ability to create and enhance attacks with the use of chi. Vegeta has the ability to use buku-jutsu which enables him to fly. Constant training and his Saiyan heritage have given him superhuman strength, speed and reflexes.

Vegeta is known to give names for his various energy attacks. In his early appearance, Vegeta is seen to use attacks similar to several of the protagonists of the series, such as a ki disk

, a twofingered laser-like blast, and a chi wave similar to Goku's Kamehameha blast. This beam known as the Garlic Gun is used by Vegeta during his battle against Goku in an attempt to destroy the Earth. The Garlic Gun is the main attack used by Vegeta in most Dragon Ball Z video games although he uses it only once in the manga. Vegeta later develops the Big Bang Attack and the Final Flash attacks, which are much more powerful than his older energy attacks. Vegeta's most commonly used attack in the series is when he bombards an opponent with an array of small chi blasts. Vegeta is not known to have a name for this attack, but it is officially called Renzoku Energy Dan . Also in Dragon Ball GT he displays a powerful new attack entitling it the Final Shine Attack , where Vegeta uses his right hand to fire off a massive beam of green chi that widens with distance.

Vegeta also possesses several transformations that greatly enhance his abilities to varying degrees. Early in the series, he has the ability to become an Oozaru, which increases his power tenfold, so long as he still has his tail. He gains the ability to transform into a Super Saiyan and, through training, can further transform into advanced states of Super Saiyan as the series continues, including Super Saiyan 2nd Grade and Super Saiyan 2. While he was not able to achieve Super Saiyan 3, in Dragon Ball GT, he reaches Super Saiyan 4.

Vegeta can also fuse with Goku and create a warrior who has the combined power and skills of both. One method is by using the Potara Earrings presented to Goku by the Elder Kai. This results in a 'perfect fusion' creating Vegetto (Vegeta/Kakarotto). The other method is by performing the Metamorese Fusion Dance, which creates Gogeta.

== ==Vegeta is introduced into the series as the proud prince of the Saiyan race. He travels to earth with his comrade Nappa in order to use the Dragon Balls for his wish of immortality. He is defeated by Goku and his allies, and Vegeta barely escapes with his life. After being restored to health, Vegeta travels to Planet Namek in an attempt to wish for immortality using the Dragon Balls of Namek. Upon arrival, Vegeta manages to kill many of Frieza's henchmen as well as members of the Ginyu Force
. Later, he is defeated and subsequently killed by Frieza, but is revived with a wish from the

Namekian Dragon Balls. Vegeta then chooses to stay on Earth, and enters into a relationship with Bulma and (eventually) marries her, resulting in the birth of his son, Trunks.

Years later, Vegeta finally becomes a Super Saiyan and easily destroys Android #19, sent by the Red Ribbon to kill Goku. However, even as a Super Saiyan, he is defeated by Android #18. Afterwards, Vegeta ascends the Super Saiyan level while training with his son Trunks in the Room of Spirit and Time and pummels the android Cell, who has absorbed Android #17. But his cockiness leads him to allow Cell to absorb Android 18, upon which Cell achieves his perfect form. Vegeta fails to defeat Cell, and he is forced to participate in a martial arts tournament created by Cell, called the Cell Games, in which he aids Gohan (Goku's first son) in order to defeat Cell in his perfect form.

Some time within the seven years after the Cell Games, Vegeta allows himself to be consumed by magician Babidi's evil power for his own desire to become powerful enough to fight and defeat Goku. However, when the monster Majin Buu is revived as a result of the energy released from their fight, Vegeta goes to face him alone and sacrifices himself in a vain attempt to defeat Majin Buu. After King Yemma gives Vegeta back his body and sends him down to Earth to help against the threat of Buu, he combines with Goku using the Potara Earrings, creating Vegito, who completely overwhelms Buu with his strength. Eventually, he is absorbed into Buu's body and subsequently, the fusion splits. Goku and Vegeta then recover their allies who have been absorbed by Buu, causing him to overcome a new transformation. On the Supreme Kai's planet, Vegeta and Fat Buu battle Kid Buu again to buy time for Goku to gather energy for the Spirit Bomb, which he uses to defeat Kid Buu once and for all.

In Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta is possessed by Baby and battles Goku, but is eventually split from Baby's body before Baby is destroyed. Later he fights Super Android 17, but again he is knocked out and nearly killed. When Omega Shenron wreaks havoc, he fuses with Goku as a Super Saiyan 4 to become Gogeta, who defeats the evil Shenron but his arrogance doesn't allow him to finish the job, and the fusion time runs out, reverting the two back to normal. At the end of Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta says a farewell to Goku, who leaves the duty of protecting Earth in Vegeta's hands before he flies off into the sky on Shenron.

Vegeta has made several appearances in other manga. In Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball self parody Neko Majin where he battles the main character "Z". In Cross Epoch Vegeta is reimagined as a captain of a crew of air pirates which include Trunks, Usopp, and Nico Robin. On September 15, 2006, Vegeta, would make a guest appearance in a chapter of the Kochikame manga Super Kochikame entitled Kochira Namek-Sei Dragon Kōen-mae Hashutsujo

Vegeta has also been the victim of parody, in the Shonen JumpGag Special 2005 issue released on November 12, 2004, featured a Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo one-shot Dragon Ball parody manga. The manga was a humorous retelling of the battle between Goku and Vegeta in the Saiyan Saga. Jelly Jiggler was Goku and Don Patch was Vegeta.

Vegeta has made one contribution to music, in the eighth installment of Hit Song Collection series entitled Character Special 2 Vegeta sings the song "Vegeta-sama no Oryori Jigoku!!". The song focuses of Vegeta cooking a special Okonomiyaki. Other Dragon Ball-related songs that center around Vegeta are "Koi no NAZONAZO" by Kuko and Tricky Shirai which focuses on his and Bulma's relationship and "Ai wa Ballad no Yō ni~Vegeta no Theme~" by Shin Oya which represents Vegeta reflections on his life and then current family.

The character of Vegeta has received praise and criticism from various reviewers from manga, anime and other media. Todd Douglass Jr. from DVDtalk.com commented on Vegeta's skills and anger,noting them to be a good combination for any fight even though it is a one-sided battle due to how powerful he is. During the appearance of Babidi, his reveal as a villain was considered to be "the real meat" from the story.Theron Martin fromAnime News Network
noted Vegeta's pride as being partially responsible for the success of the series. His fight against Goku during such time was also

commented to be very entertaining despite its length as well as Goku and Vegeta's fighting styles which were considered to be becoming stale.In another review, Theron noted Vegeta's overcoming his pride to help defeat Cell as the best scene from the fight against such antagonist due to how it creates the climax from the scene.His visual appearance inDragon Ball GThas been criticized as "goofy" byIGNwriter Jeffrey Harris.Carlos Ross from Them Anime Reviews found Vegeta and Bulma's relationship to have too much comic potential and comments that such characterization was lost.Vegeta's voice actor in the English dub from the series,Christopher Sabat, has referred to Vegeta as his favorite character from theDragon Ball Zanime.InAbout.com"Top 8 Anime Love Stories", Vegeta and Bulma's relationship ranked second with Katherine Luther commenting that such relationship was unpredictable by fans.He ranked 21st on IGN's top 25 anime characters list. Editor Chris Mackenzie commented that while characters such asLight YagamiandLelouch Lamperougehave appeal, Vegeta was the original "unmitigated bastard"